This may be a pretty stupid question, but is the circled hose in the attached picture supposed to just end like this? It looks like the usual vacuum hoses under the hood. I just noticed it today while showing my dad where the MAF sits.

 

Damn, that engine looks very clean. I have no idea what the is.

 

I am not positive but it looks like it is a vacume pressure release line. Another words when your vacume lines are sucking air in under throttle and then you let off the throttle there is back pressure created and it need to be released through that hose. I am not positive about this but I may very well be correct.

 

I have the same hose on my car. I noticed it when I was working on the car. It appears that it is where it's supposed to be. I would also assume that since we both have this hose there is no problem with it.

 

how new is you car???/ the engine compartment is spotless!!

 

Yes. It is the output end of the transmission breather hose.

 

Thanks, Daniel. It's good to know I'm not missing anything important, heh.

redmaxpa007: The car is a '97 SE, 39k miles. I cleaned the engine bay 4 months ago; the whole car is due for a detailing as soon as I can find some free time.

 

What exactly is the best way to go about doing that? How were you able to be so THOROUGH?

I've heard a clean engine can run 60 or 80 degrees cooler than a gunked up engine. Is there any truth to that, Daniel?

 

I doubt it. The primary mechanism for heat transfer is the radiator, not the engine surfaces. It is true that a radiator which is obstructed by leaves, dead insects, and other road debris will not reject heat into the atmosphere as well as a clean one. Cleaning the radiator might make your engine run cooler. Cleaning the engine is done for cosmetic reasons.

 

Generally, I shine two high-powered flourescent lights down on the engine bay in two directions. This lights everything up and shows almost all of the dirt on even the parts you may not normally see without such intense light. I begin cleaning everything I can get my hands on with a damp rag and varying brushes (wire, toothbrush, etc). Once that's done, I throw some Griot's Machine Polish 1 on a wool buffing pad and hand rub it on basically anything made of metal that I can reach. To clean the plastic cover on the engine, I just use Novus 2 then 1 plastic polish to get out the scratches and make it a little bit shiny. Same goes for the other plastic parts under there. As for the hoses, it's nothing more than Armor-All on those guys. It's a lot of work, but the end result really gets some ooohs and ahhhs when I pop the hood.

 

So when you clean your engine, you pretty much clean everything by hand and no soaking it down with a garden hose and some simple green cleaner (or any other brand). How do you manage to reach all these places in your engine bay? I am just astonished because after driving my car for two years now, the engine has gotten somewhat dirtier and there are some gunk around...

anyone else have the same gunk and stuff on their engine? any rusts?

 

would detailing the engine cost, and how long does it take them to do it.

 

He,s just proud of that engine bay!!!!